Monaco GP 2010 - Monte Carlo

[andrew]

Circuit information
Length: 3.34km
Race distance: 78 laps / 260.520km

Full throttle: 42%
Top speed: 286kph
Longest flat-out section: 8s / 510m
Right/left-hand turns: 12/7

Tyre wear: Medium
Brake wear: High
Downforce level: Very high
Gear changes per lap: 54

Tyres

2010 tyre compounds: medium (prime, no marking), super-soft (option, green markings)
2009 tyre compounds: soft (prime, no marking), super-soft (option, green markings)
2008 tyre compounds: soft (prime, no marking), super-soft (option, white markings)

Fuel use per lap: 1.723kg (source: Williams)
Pit lane time loss: 17.8s


2009 Result:

1 Jenson Button - Brawn-Mercedes
2 Rubens Barrichello - Brawn-Mercedes
3 Kimi Räikkönen - Ferrari
4 Felipe Massa - Ferrari
5 Mark Webber - Red Bull-Renault
6 Nico Rosberg - Williams-Toyota
7 Fernando Alonso - Renault
8 Sébastien Bourdais - Toro Rosso-Ferrari

[ISLAMATRON]

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/83477

The FIA doing a good job of leaving the decision of splittingqually upto the teams.

And of course the teams have their head in their asses, once again.

expect some fireworks for Monaco qually

[raymondu999]

Looks like another red bull circuit doesn't it? That car seems just so good and stable under braking/cornering. It has downforce for the fast turns, and just is excellent mechanically at the low speed stuff too. Assuming everything holds together. Like Vettel's brakes

[wesley123]

i think this will be mclaren country, mclaren can simply add alot fo downforce here and keep top speeds due to the F duct. Braking has seemed to be a problem for red bull, as seen with vettel today so expect that to be a problem, the red bull is far from reliable, so the problems will show here for sure.

[Scotracer]

Don't count out Mercedes. They were just behind RBR in S3 times for Q3 and Schumy had awesome traction out of the final chicane in the race.

Oh and Schumacher's only won there 5 times.

[vall]

Don't count out Mercedes. They were just behind RBR in S3 times for Q3 and Schumy had awesome traction out of the final chicane in the race.

Oh and Schumacher's only won there 5 times.

why count Ferrari out?

[WhiteBlue]

i think this will be mclaren country, mclaren can simply add alot fo downforce here and keep top speeds due to the F duct. Braking has seemed to be a problem for red bull, as seen with vettel today so expect that to be a problem, the red bull is far from reliable, so the problems will show here for sure.

I'm not so sure. Ferrari and McLaren have build very long boats which are difficult to navigate around the tight parts of the track. Schumi intimated that they may use the short wheel base version at Monaco; at least I expect Rosberg to use it.

The effing duct will be close to useless in Monaco compared to Barca as the speeds are a lot lower and the "straights" bumpy and curvy. At least the Ferrari system will be a bit awkward to operate.

[hollus]

I posted this already a while ago, but there were no takers. It feels more relevant now, though, so here it goes again:

My excuses if there if this has been discussed already.

I am wondering what exactly counts as a tyre change...and its consequences for extreme strategies.

From the sporting regulations:
"25.4) Use of Tyres:
e) Unless he has used intermediate or wet tyres during the race, each driver must use at least one set of each specification of dry-weather tyres during the race"

Now, what exactly is "use" by the wording of the rules, as I don't believe in spirits. Is "use" one lap? Is it crossing the finish line? Is "use" rolling? Is it having them in the car?

All this talk of how difficult it is to overtake (I wrote this after Bahrain, bau Barcelona didn't make it look any easier) got me thinking. If we take Monaco or Hungary, passing on track is effectively off under most circumstances.
Now, I start the race in the softs, from the pit lane. Not from the end of it, but from my box. I roll 1 meter on them, stop, get the hards on. Have I "used" my softs? Am I now allowed to finish the race without any further pit stops? I am last, but everybody else has to pit, and honestly, most will do it in the second lap after the safety car came out... am I now winning the race?

OF course I paint it quite extreme there, not that the teams are not keen on pushing the boundaries. Something a bit less cheeky would be to simply make that first lap in the softs, then come in and put on the hards for the rest of the race.

With 24 cars in Monaco, including rookie drivers in rookie teams, I cannot see how we won't have at least one early safety car. The biggest problem for this strategy is that the SC will likely come out already in the first lap, and also that even under SC (say in lap 2) the field can be quite spread, like a second per car at least, and not needing to pit likely won't make you first.

Any chance that, say, the lotuses could try? Given enough safety cars they would never be lapped, and slowly pick up the field, and even a Lotus would be damn difficult to overtake. It could at least bring some points.

[Scotracer]

Don't count out Mercedes. They were just behind RBR in S3 times for Q3 and Schumy had awesome traction out of the final chicane in the race.

Oh and Schumacher's only won there 5 times.

why count Ferrari out?

...I didn't

I'm sure they'll be right up there too. I expect a 4-team fight for the race.

[Miguel]

The Renault packaging also looks pretty neat. I wouldn't be surprised at all to see Kubica posting a very good result. The thing is, a good result is basically beating one or two of the eight faster cars ahead of him. This year would have been a nightmare for the other teams if points finished on 8th.

[djos]

Webber for the win imo, Vettel makes too many mistakes at Monaco and doesnt seem to look after his car as well as Mark does (Seb was really bashing the high chicane curbs in spain where as Mark stayed off them and was still faster.)

Marks also had a podium here for Williams and came damned close to winning the year after but his Williams decided to catch fire!

[Hangaku]

Hamilton for the win, because I'm a Hamilton fan

[andrew]

Given that this is Monaco and there will be no passing and blocking in qualifying I reckon there may be a mixed up grid. Hopefully there will be a strange result on Sunday.

It'll be a Ferrari win hopefully for Massa.

[Sean H]

With all 24 cars out on a confined and short track, Q1 could see a few favorties upset with the slower cars and possibly not make it onto Q2, the same could also happen in Q2. I don't think anybody could come from 17th or further back to the front on that track with the current fuel/tire regs. Should be interesting.

I say RBR vs Scuderia Marlboro for the win.

[BreezyRacer]

Webber for the win imo, Vettel makes too many mistakes at Monaco and doesnt seem to look after his car as well as Mark does (Seb was really bashing the high chicane curbs in spain where as Mark stayed off them and was still faster.)

Marks also had a podium here for Williams and came damned close to winning the year after but his Williams decided to catch fire!

+1!